Bleeding Out
by Mezzem313
Summary: As Snape is dying, he reflects upon his life, the mistakes he made, and the manipulative wizards who molded him to be where he was, dying. The story is set to the lyrics of "Bleeding Out" by Imagine Dragons. Enjoy and please review!


**This song is "Bleeding Out" by Imagine Dragons. I heard it, and I thought of Snape as he was dying. I just had to write this.**

 **Direct quotes from Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows are in italics, and the lyrics to "Bleeding Out" are in bold.**

 **Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling or Imagine Dragons.**

 **"Bleeding Out"**

Snape knew he was dying.

 **I'm bleeding out**

Nagini had bitten him, and his blood was everywhere.

 **So if the last thing that I do**

Snape was not foolish enough to believe he would survive this. This is the end for him.

 **Is bring you down**

As long as the Dark Lord is defeated, Snape would believe that his life was not lived in vain.

 **I'll bleed out for you**

Whatever it takes.

 **So I bare my skin**

His Dark Mark, he knew, would most likely be all people would think about when they remembered him.

 **And I count my sins**

Snape wouldn't blame them, of course; he knew that he had done numerous horrific deeds.

 **And I close my eyes**

He had aided in the torture and murder of numerous people.

 **And I take it in**

At least now, in death, Snape wouldn't be forced to do anymore of those horrific deeds.

 **I'm bleeding out**

His life in almost constant pain would be ending soon.

 **I'm bleeding out for you, for you.**

No thanks to those manipulative wizards he served.

 **When the day has come**

 _"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"_

 **That I've lost my way around**

Lily turned her back on him and didn't look back.

 **And the seasons stop and hide beneath the ground**

 _There was no pity in Lily's voice. "It's too late. I've made excuses for you for years…. I can't pretend anymore. You've chosen your way, I've chosen mine."_

 **When the sky turns gray**

It was raining the day the teenage Snape watched the last person who loved him be buried.

 **And everything is screaming**

"Mother! You can't be dead! You can't leave me, too!"

 **I will reach inside**

"Why does everyone I love leave me?"

 **Just to find my heart is beating**

"Is it that I'm not good enough for them to stay?"

 **Oh, you tell me to hold on**

"You'll get over her; she's only a mudblood."

 **Oh, you tell me to hold on**

"Joining the Dark Lord will help you achieve greatness and be better than those that put you down."

 **But innocence is gone**

"He will allow you to get vengeance for your mother's death."

 **And what was right is wrong**

Snape, along with some of his Death Eater friends, tortured his muggle father, the one who killed his mother.

 **'Cause I'm bleeding out**

The Dark Lord had caused him injuries and tortured him on many occasions.

 **So if the last thing that I do**

And now the Dark Lord's order to his snake is what was going to kill him.

 **Is to bring you down**

Dumbledore had told Snape that he had to tell Harry important information regarding the Dark Lord and Harry's souls at a certain time.

 **I'll bleed out for you**

The irony is that Dumbledore had told Snape that this time would come when the Dark Lord would keep Nagini " _safe beside him under magical protection_."

 **So I bare my skin**

Which was right now.

 **And I count my sins**

And at this time, the Dark Lord would " _stop sending that snake forth to do his bidding_."

 **And I close my eyes**

And yet the Dark Lord still sent Nagini to kill Snape.

 **And I take it in**

So when exactly is Snape supposed to tell Harry the crucial information that only Dumbledore and Snape know?

 **And I'm bleeding out**

Dumbledore is dead, and Snape will be soon.

 **I'm bleeding out for you (for you)**

So how will Harry get the information?

 **When the hour is nigh**

Snape pleaded frantically Dumbledore, _"Hide them all, then. Keep her – them – safe. Please."_

 **And hopelessness is sinking in**

 _"And what will you give me in return, Severus?_ " he had asked, and Snape had answered, _"Anything."_

 **And the wolves all cry**

Snape despised werewolves, but he had to work with them because of his orders.

 **To fill the night with hollering**

Snape watched men screaming like babies, women being violated, and children brutally murdered. He could do nothing to stop it because of his orders.

 **When your eyes are red**

One master he served had red snakelike eyes, while the other had blue twinkling eyes that were just as terrifying.

 **And emptiness is all you know**

Neither of his masters really knew what love feels like.

 **With the darkness fed**

Snape once knew, but that seemed like an eternity ago.

 **I will be your scarecrow**

Snape was a slave to both his masters, which made them have yet another similarity.

 **You tell me to hold on**

 _"You gave me your word, Severus. And while we are talking about services you owe me…."_

 **Oh you tell me to hold on**

 _"Don't be shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?"_

 **But innocence is gone**

"She's dead! _I thought … you were going … to keep her … safe…._ "

 **And what was right is wrong**

"You will save people by being a double agent," he had promised Snape. Now Snape only thought of the countless deaths and pain that he had caused as a double agent.

 **'Cause I'm bleeding out**

 _"So the boy … the boy must die?"_

 **So if the last thing that I do**

 _"I thought … all these years … that we were protecting him for her. For Lily."_

 **Is to bring you down**

 _"You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment."_

 **I'll bleed out for you**

 _"You have used me."_

 **So I bare my skin**

 _"I have spied for you and lied for you,"_

 **And I count my sins**

 _"Put myself in mortal danger for you."_

 **And I close my eyes**

 _"Everything was supposed to be to keep Lily Potter's son safe."_

 **And I take it in**

 _"Now you tell me you have been raising him like a pig for slaughter."_

 **And I'm bleeding out**

 _"Those whom I could not save."_

 **I'm bleeding out for you, for you.**

Harry Potter

 **I'm bleeding out for you (for you)**

Lily

 **I'm bleeding out for you (for you)**

The Dark Lord

 **I'm bleeding out for you (for you)**

Dumbledore

 **I'm bleeding out for you**

Even Snape's own death wasn't on his own terms but on the terms of his masters.

 **'Cause I'm bleeding out**

 _"You must kill me."_

 **So if the last thing that I do**

Dumbledore tried to convince Snape to be the one to kill him so that Draco's soul wouldn't be damaged, disregarding the damage it would inflict on Snape's soul. However, that wasn't the main reason that Dumbledore wanted Snape to do this deed.

 **Is to bring you down**

The Dark Lord had killed Snape to gain possession of the Elder Wand, but Dumbledore had Snape kill him so that no one would gain possession of the Elder Wand.

 **I'll bleed out for you**

So pretty much, Snape was dying because his masters were selfish and because both cared more about a wand than him.

 **So I bare my skin**

Snape had given them himself because he had trusted them at one point in his life to help him become better.

 **And I count my sins**

As he died alone and hated or not cared about by everyone, Snape knew that his biggest mistake had been in his youth when he trusted the two most powerful wizards to care about a social misfit.

 **And I close my eyes**

Snape's eyes closed in death.

 **And I take it in**

Snape looked around the strange place he was in; it looked like he was in Hogwarts, but yet he wasn't.

 **And I'm bleeding out**

He noticed that he wasn't feeling any physical pain in this place.

 **I'm bleeding out for you, for you.**

"Well done, Severus, my boy," Dumbledore said with a grin and a twinkle in his eyes as he approached Snape.

 **A/N**

 **As I thought about Snape and his death, I realized that he was almost a pawn to both Voldemort and Dumbledore. They made him do things that he didn't want to do for what they claimed was the greater good.**

 **After saying all that, I personally think that Snape isn't a good person. He was a bully and a creep. That being said, I do pity him. As Dumbledore said to Harry, "Pity… above all those who live without love."**

 **Please review and tell me what you think!**


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